Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has spoken out against the anti-RFS message of PES’s rally. “Every independent study shows the PES bankruptcy was due to management decisions that did not work out, not the Renewable Fuel Standard,” Grassley said. “PES knows this to be true, which is why it initiallybanned Reuters from attending today’s anti-RFS rally after Reuters released an analysis exposing the embarrassing truth. It sure looks like PES management and its private equity owners are scapegoating the RFS to distract from their own failings, which have risked the livelihoods of more than a thousand workers. PES should level with its employees, who deserve an honest explanation of the facts. …”

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Several biofuel trade groups have also spoken out to dispute the information presented at the rally. “Ted Cruz seems more interested in the spotlight than facts,” said Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy. “If Mr. Cruz cared about jobs, he would support workers in the heartland who produce America’s homegrown energy and stop spreading falsehoods about the RFS. As the University of Pennsylvania explained and Reuters reported, workers at PES deserve real answers for the financial troubles facing the refinery, and that starts with investors who drained the company while other U.S. refiners flourished under the RFS.”

“Senator Cruz’s increasingly desperate publicity stunts do not change the fact that the problems facing Philadelphia Energy Solutions have nothing to do with the Renewable Fuel Standard and everything to do with mismanagement by the PES ownership group,” said Brian Jennings, CEO of the American Coalition for Ethanol. “In recent days, it has been disclosed by current and former PES employees that the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm that owns two-thirds of PES, prioritized cash distributions to shareholders over small investments that would have enabled the refinery to comply with the RFS. …”

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” … Meanwhile, refiners like PBF and Valero are posting rising profits – with a potential 20 percent boost under the new tax bill. PES has problems, but the more policymakers learn about the situation, the more it looks like a smoke screen cooked up by refinery owners seeking a handout.” (Brooke Colman, executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council)

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” … The workers that gathered at this rally might be interested to learn that Sen. Cruz led the effort in the Senate to lift the crude oil export ban, which has far more to do with the refinery’s struggles than anything related to the RFS. As one worker at the rally noted, booming crude oil exports are harming Northeast refiners.”

“If lowering the price of RINs is deemed a necessity, however, there is indeed a win-win,” Dinneen (Bob Dinneen, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association) said. “Expand the use of renewable fuel by undoing the unnecessary regulations on higher ethanol blends. That would be consistent with Sen. Cruz’s and the president’s regulatory reform agenda, while protecting jobs in both refining and agriculture.” READ MORE